Combining social consciousness and non-sexist lyrics with high-energy and guitar-oriented music, Queensrÿche has become known as an intellectual heavy metal band. Seattle youths Chris DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Geoff Tate, and Michael Wilton formed Queensrÿche as teenagers in 1983 with a definite agenda in mind: turning their strong passion for playing music into an original heavy metal band. Since then the group has pursued their musical dreams with as much passion as their playing. After spending years as opening acts for other bands, Queensrÿche released their ambitious 1988 concept album Operation: Mindcrime, which won critical and popular acclaim and was compared to the Who's Tommy and Pink Floyd's The Wall. Queensrÿche went on to headline their own concerts, bringing their progressive heavy metal music to sold-out audiences.
Queensrÿche started when DeGarmo and Wilton united with the intention of creating an original band. Many hours of jam sessions went into developing a unique brand of guitar playing. Wilton had briefly attended the Cornish Institute of Allied Arts in Seattle, Washington, studying music theory, among other subjects. "I can attribute a lot of the obscure [musical] things that I do to some of the things that I learned at that college, like how to play... all these really different, weird African tribal rhythms and everything," Wilton told Steve Peters in Guitar Player. "It made me see things in a different light. I don't know if it actually makes me play any better, but knowledge never hurts. It helps for musicians to accept different forms of music and see the values in them."
Wilton and DeGarmo were meticulous about putting the band together. Both were serious about music, and they wanted the other members to have the same commitment. "We were looking for people who shared the same sort of passion, who were willing to stick it out to get there," DeGarmo proclaimed to Daina Darzin in Spin. The other members chosen were vocalist Tate, bassist Jackson, and drummer Rockenfield. The band has kept these original members throughout it's career.
